The US ambassador to Ireland, James Kenny, is being asked to
answer questions on the illegal transport of abductees through
Shannon airport amid increasing controversy over the Dublin
government’s dealings with the Bush administration.

The Dublin parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee is seeking
answers amid growing international concern over the illegal
process known as “extraordinary rendition”, following reports
that the CIA has been operating secret prisons in Europe for
civilians abducted from a variety of locations.

The US government, while not denying that abductions had taken
place or that secret prisons exist, has insisted that those who
had been “rendered” had not been subjected to torture.

“We do not render to countries that torture. That has been our
policy and that policy will remain the same,” President George
Bush told reporters this week.

Information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act
indicates there may have been 38 landings of CIA flights at
Shannon, mostly since 2002.

However, Amnesty International has said that six CIA-chartered
aircraft have landed 50 times at Shannon and made 800 flights
into western European airspace.

The group has callled for the inspection of flights chartered by
the CIA that land in Shannon airport to ensure they are not
carrying torture victims.

Belfast Aldergrove airport has also been named as one of the
destinations for 800 so-called ‘ghost flights’ by the CIA
identified in research carried out by The Guardian newspaper,

In the Dail this week, 26-County Taoiseach Bertie Ahern insisted
that the Government “cannot and will not allow” CIA-controlled
aircraft to land in the State if they are carrying abductees.
He said the Government has raised its concerns “at the highest
levels” with the Bush administration in Washington.

Labour leader Pat Rabbitte challenged Ahern’s assertion that
anybody with information about the US Central Intelligence Agency
landing in Shannon with torture victims should inform the Garda.

Mr Ahern repeated that if anybody had evidence to demonstrate
that prisoners were unlawfully transferred through Irish
territory, it should be passed on. “We are not aware of any such
evidence,” he said.

Mr Rabbitte said he was not talking about military aircraft
landing with prior approval, but ostensibly civilian commercial
aircraft landing. “It is not enough for the Taoiseach to say if
anybody has evidence, will they give it to the gardai in
Sixmilebridge. How am I supposed to get evidence? I am asking
questions as an Opposition politician in this House.”

Sinn Féin’s Aengus O Snodaigh said the Dublin government had
presented a “classic Catch-22 situation” by refusing to act
without evidence, while not allowing the aircraft to be
inspected.

Ahern said Ireland accepted the “repeated assurances” given by
the government of the United States.

“The US authorities know the importance we attach to these
assurances,” he said. “If the United States secretary of state,
Condoleezza Rice, gives us assurances, I must accept them,” Mr
Ahern declared.

Under the 1944 Chicago Convention, states are entitled to search
civilian aircraft at their airports, contrary to the points made
by Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell
on Monday.

It emerged last week that a US airforce cargo plane bound for
Iraq and carrying almost 60 tonnes of "hazardous" gas cylinders
was forced to make an emergency landing at Shannon.

Prof William Schabas, director of the Irish Centre for Human
Rights at the National University of Ireland, Galway, called on
the Government to stop CIA flights landing in Shannon.

On Monday, he said, the US secretary of state had “strengthened
the presumption that something funny is going on” when she
acknowledged that “rendition” flights took place and claimed that
they had prevented attacks.

Earlier this week, legislation giving effect to a deal allowing
US authorities the power to undertake criminal investigations in
the 26 Counties was published.

The legislation also grants the US access to information about
Irish bank accounts. Assistance cannot be refused on grounds of
customer confidentiality, according to the agreement and extends
to the freezing of a suspect’s assets and property.

The Bill also enables agencies such as the FBI and Department of
Homeland Security to request phone taps and other types of
surveillance on civilians in the 26-Counties.

We have a favour to ask

We want to keep our publication as available as we can, so we need to ask for your help. Irish Republican News takes time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe it makes a difference.
If everyone who reads our website helps fund it, our future would be much more secure.

For as little as £1, you can support Irish Republican News – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.